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Coll 6/19 'Arabia: (Saudi Arabia) Hejaz-Nejd Annual Report.' [‎144v] (289/540)

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The record is made up of 1 file (268 folios). It was created in 18 Apr 1931-18 May 1945. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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32
149. The normal communications of the Hejaz by sea remained very much
the same as before, except that rather more ships of the British lines making
through voyages called, while German shipping has fallen off and Bussian ships
seem to have given up Jedda as a port of call completely for the time being. The
appearance of Italian and Japanese shipping in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. affects
communications with Saudi Arabia for commercial purposes but indirectly only.
It was announced on the 5th May that a native “ Arabian Steam Navigation
Company ” had beeh formed and had bought two vessels, which would run between
Red Sea and Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ports. One of these, a steamer of some 300 tons, bought
second-hand at Beirut, arrived on the 21st May and sails under the name of
Al Fath or Victory. The other is a similar vessel renamed An-Nasr, which
arrived on the 26th June. At the end of the year An-Nasr was laid up in dock at
Suez for repairs.
150. As regards shipping specially engaged in the pilgrimage trade, the
most important event of the year was the incursion of the Misr Navigation
Company in pursuance of the projects conceived by Talaat Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. Harb and the
Banque Misr group in 1933. One ship, the Zemzem, formerly the Bibby Line
Gloucestershire and later the British Exhibitor, made three voyages from Egypt.
This group also ran towards the end of the year, for purposes ancillary to their
main enterprise, two much smaller vessels once or twice, but no regular service was
established.
151. Telegraphic and postal services continued to work normally. Wireless
continues to be extremely valuable for internal communications. As regards
external telegraphic communications, see paragraph 69 above; and as regards the
Russian gift of automatic telephone sets, paragraph 88 above. The twenty-five
sets presented by the Russians were still installed in fhe King’s Palace at Taif
at the end of the year. There is no truth in a report which appeared in the Soviet
press in November, that an automatic telephone service had been installed in
Jedda. The establishment of a regular fortnightly postal service from Mecca to
Riyadh was announced in October.
Commerce.
152. As usual, very little information of definite value is available on this
subject. The survey foreshadowed in paragraph 141 of the report for 1933 had to
be postponed.
153. Some idea of the movement of trade at Jedda, the only port of real
importance, may be derived from the following figures, which have been obtained
privately and must be received with great reserve :—
Arabic year 1351 ending the 25th April, 1933—
Imports, £gold 1,214,330.
Exports, circa £gold 8,260.
Arabic year 1352 ending the 15th April, 1934—^
Imports, £gold 989,080.
Exports, circa £gold 8,260.
154. If anything, there was probably a moderate increase in imports in 1934.
The war gave an impetus in certain directions. Unusual quantities of rice, for
instance, were imported in the first six months of the year. There were also
certain importations of arms and ammunition, including 2 million rounds of rifle
ammunition, worth about £7,000, supplied by Messrs. Gellatly, Hankey and Co.
to the Government in April, and a consignment of 6,000 rifles and three cases of
machine guns from Antwerp in October. The rifles in the latter consignment were
old German Mausers, bought through Khalid-al-Qarqani, a well-known member
of Ibn Saud’s entourage, of Tripolitan origin.
155. It was announced on the 2nd March that the Government had
authorised the creation of an “ Arabian Company for Exports,” with a capital
of £5,000 gold in £5 shares. The published list of subscribers included a number
of high official personages headed by the Amir Feisal and his little boy, but the
total of shares subscribed was, according to three lists, only 298 up to the

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Content

This file contains copies of annual reports regarding the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd (later Saudi Arabia) during the years 1930-1938 and 1943-1944.

The reports were produced by the British Minister at Jedda (Sir Andrew Ryan, succeeded by Sir Reader William Bullard) and sent to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (and in the case of these copies, forwarded by the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to the Under-Secretary of State for India), with the exception of the reports for 1943 and 1944, which appear to have been produced and sent by His Majesty's Chargé d’Affaires at Jedda, Stanley R Jordan.

The reports covering 1930-1938 discuss the following subjects: foreign relations; internal affairs; financial, economic and commercial affairs; military organisation; aviation; legislation; press; education; the pilgrimage; slavery and the slave trade; naval matters. The reports for 1943 and 1944 are rather less substantial. The 1943 report discusses Arab affairs, Saudi relations with foreign powers, finance, supplies, and the pilgrimage, whilst the 1944 report covers these subjects in addition to the following: the activities of the United States in Saudi Arabia, the Middle East Supply Centre, and the Saudi royal family.

The file includes a divider which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.

Extent and format
1 file (268 folios)
Arrangement

The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the file.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 269; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located at the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. An additional foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 2-12 and ff 45-268; these numbers are also written in pencil but are not circled.

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English in Latin script
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Coll 6/19 'Arabia: (Saudi Arabia) Hejaz-Nejd Annual Report.' [‎144v] (289/540), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/2085, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100036362871.0x00005a> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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